Floor mop having a curved head compressible in a correspondingly curved path



1959 DAVID CHAO FLOOR MOP HAVING A CURVED HEAD COMPRESSIBLE IN A CORRESPONDINGLY CURVED PATH Filed. Dc. 14, 1956 liIfIIIQl l ill Q INVENTOR.

C\-\ A O DAVHD ATTORNEY$ limited States PatentC FLOOR MOP HAVING A CURVED HEAD COM- PRESSIBLE IN A CORRESPONDIYGLY CURVED PATH David Chao, Los Angeles, Calif. Application December 14,1956, Serial No. 628,428

1 Claim. (Cl. -119) This invention relates to floor mops, and more particularly has reference to a mop of the type having an absorbent, compressible head of sponge material or the like, with the mop having means for squeezing or compressing the head to extract therefrom water which has saturated the mop head.

Most usually, the compressible head of a sponge mop is bonded to a rigid base, in such a manner that only one face of the mop can be used. Further, it is not uncommon for a mop to be so designed as to be squeezable only by ones bending or stooping over to grasp the mop head, thus in many instances causing ones, hands to become wet, and producing, in any event, a substantial amount of discomfort so far as the user is concerned.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a mop so designed that one need not bend or stoop in order to wring the mop. It is a secondary object, in this connection, to form the mop in such manner that when one wrings the mop, the hands do not become wet, with the compression of the mop head being effectedresponsive merely to the swinging of a lever disposed adjacent the outer end 'of the usual, elongated mop handle, where it can be fully accessible in the general area of the waist level of a standing person.

Yet another object is to provide means for compressing the mop head that will be so designed as to effect the squeezing of the spongle material with only a minimum amount of effort so far as the user is concerned, due to the provision of a plurality of connected, movable components so designed as to gain mechanical advantage during the translation of the swinging motion of a handle lever into a squeezing pressure exerted upon the mop head.

Also another important object is to make the mop head curve upward in an are so that the user may use this mop in unrestricted angular movement. This freedom of motion gives the user great maneuverability.

Still another object is to provide a pressure plate that will be guided and moved in an arc, as distinguished from the conventional arrangement wherein the pressure plate is pivoted, this unique movement being particularly adapted to press water out of the sponge uniformly, over the full length, thickness, and transverse dimension or width of the sponge material.

Yet another object is to form the mop head in a manner such that the water and dirt will emerge from the opposite sides of the sponge, as Well as from the bottom, 'to insure the swift and easy wringing of the mop.

A further object of importance is to form the mop in such a manner that the cover or frame of the mop head will fully protect the user from the water or dirt that may be forcibly ejected from the mop head during the squeezing process, with the water and dirt emerging from the opposite sides of the sponge as previously noted, and the head of the sponge retaining a uniform shape during compression.

' ()ther objects will appear from the following descrip tion, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a mop according to the present invention, portions being broken away, the

head being shown in its normal, expanded condition;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the mop with the parts in position to squeeze the mop head and in which the handle is shown only fragmentarily;

Figure 3 is a view of the mop partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, with the parts in position to squeeze the mop head;

Figure 4 is a sectional view substantially on line 4--4 of Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the mop head per se.

Referring to the drawings in detail, an elongated, straight handle 10 extends at one end into a cylindrical metal ferrule 12, to which it is connected by a cross pin 13. Ferrule 12 has a flattened outer end portion 14 extending at an obtuse angle to and extending downwardly from the handle, in face-to-face contact with the back wall ofla frame 16 formed as a downwardly opening, elongated and transversely curved channel member the length of which is normal to the length of the handle.

Extending the length of the bottom edges of the front and back walls of the frame 16 are rubber bumpers 18, of circular cross section and having upwardly opening longitudinal grooves receiving said edges.

' A rectangular mop head 20, coextensive with the frame, is formed of soft sponge rubber material or from some other highly absorbent, compressible material, either natural or synthetic. Head 20 is of a thickness greater than the height of the front and back walls of the frame, so that whenengaged in the frame against the top wall of the frame, its floor-surface-engaging bottom surface will be spaced downwardly from the bumpers. The head 20, being of sponge material, conforms to the curved inner surface of the top of frame 16.

The edges of head 20 are chamfered as at 19, to cause the head to retain a uniform shape during compression.

A middle bore 21 and end bores 22 extend transversely of the head 20 therethroughr Extending through the end bores 22 are curved pins 26 extending also through openings formed in a pressure plate 24 coextensive in length with the mop head and lying in face-to-face contact with the front surface of the head. The curved pins 26 are engaged at their ends in openings formed in the front and back walls of the frame, and have a head 27 bearing against the outer surface of the front wall of the frame, with cotter keys 28 extending through the pins adjacent the back wall to hold the pins detachably assembled with the frame. On removal of the cotter keys, the pins may be removed from the frame, head, and pressure plate, thus permitting the head to be discarded when worn and replaced by a new head.

For compressing'the head, a middle curved pin 30 extends through bore 21, with its headed front end loosely received in a vertical slot 32 of the pressure plate 24. The rear end portion of the pin 30, which comprises an actuating pin, is loose in registered slots 34 formed in the flattened end portion 14 of the ferrule and inthe back wall of the frame.

The rear extremity of the curved pin 30 is detachably connected by a transverse cotter key 35 to the bight part 33 of a U-shaped connecting bracket 36, the legs 37 of which extend rearwardly and have transversely aligned openings receiving the bight portion 39 of a U-shaped yoke 38 depending from ferrule 12 and having at the upper ends of its legs inwardly projecting lugs or trunnions, rotatably engagingin transversely aligned side openings of the ferrule to pivot the yoke on anaxis perpendicularly intersecting the longitudinal median of the handle 10.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, it is to be noted that the front and back walls of frame 16 are so arranged that if imaginary lines are drawn upwardly from said walls in extension of the planes in which the walls are disposed in, for example, Figure 1, said lines will intersect at a center about which the top wall of the frame 16 is' curved. In other words, said front and back walls of the frame extend downwardly from the opposite longitudinal edges of the top wall, that is, from the front and back edges of said top wall, along lines that extend radially from the center about which the undersurface of the top wall is curved.

An elongated rod 40 extends longitudinally of and below the handle 10, has an eye at its forward end loosely, pivotally receiving the bight portion 39 of yoke 38, and an eye at its rear end loosely connected to a cross pin 41 carried by a channeled handle lever 42 pivotally connected at 43 to and depending from a channeled support bracket 44 affixed to the underside of handle adjacent the rear end of the handle. As will be clearly seen from Figure 3, the actuating pin abuts against the forward end of the connecting rod 40, and it will thus be observed that the connecting rod will hold the actuating pin against sliding movement rearwardly within the bight part 33 of the U-shaped bracket 36, in such a way as to permitthe pin 39 to be merely extended through an opening of the bight part 33, after which the cotter key 35 is applied, with the bight part 33 holding the pin against sliding movement forwardly relative to bracket 36 while the forward end of connecting rod holds the pin against sliding movement rearwardly relative to said bracket 36.

In use, mop head 20 normally expands as in Figure 1 to occupy substantially the full distance between the front and back walls of the frame 16. Whenever it is desired to squeeze the mop head, one swings lever 42 clockwise about its pivot axis from its Figure 1 to its Figure 3 position. This shifts rod 40 in the direction of its length away from frame 16, swinging yoke 38 clockwise in Figure l to its Figure 3 position. In turn, this pulls curved pin 30 rearwardly to its Figure 3 position, shifting pressure plate 24 toward the back wall of the frame and thus compressing the head between the plate and back wall, the plate and head sliding on the curved guide pins 26. V

The mop has, in addition to the advantages previously noted, the characteristics of being reversible face for face. Thus, it need not be discarded when one face thereof is Worn. Instead, it is readily reversible to dispose at the bottom the surface thereof that previously faced upwardly in contact with the top of the frame.

With respect to the reversibility of the mop, it may be observed in, for example, Figure 2, that the transverse bores 21, 22 (see Figure 5) are illustrated as being slightly closer to the top surface of the sponge than to the working surface, as viewed in Figure 3. However, this does not prevent reversibility since the sponge is of a compressible material. Therefore, on reversing of the sponge from its Figure 3 position, the material of the sponge, between the bores and the face that becomes the top surface after reversal (that is, the bottom face of the sponge viewing the same as in Figure 3), will compress slightly to permit the reversing.

It is to be noted that a mop formed according to the present invention has certain highly desirable characteristics, as for example, the chamfered edges 19 are so designed as to cause the head of the mop to retain a uniform shape during compression, so that more water will be emitted during a single squeezing operation than is true of a sponge of the same size not having the chamfered edges. It will be observed from Figure 3 that when the head is squeezed, the chamfered edges, in effect, disappear, the material of the mop head being forced into the corner areas which, due to the provision of the charm fered edges, were normally free of material.

One of the important advantages of this mop resides in the fact that the cover frame 16 curves upward to receive and fit sponge 20, which is held by two curved pins 26 and curved middle pin 30. By means of this design, the user may use this mop in any angular movement in the cleaning process. This freedom of motion gives the user great maneuverability.

Still further, an important characteristic of the invention resides in the fact that the pin 30 is readily and wholly removable, along with the guide rods 26, so that the mop head can be readily removed for replacement by a new mop head. Alternatively, the mop head is readily reversed face for face, thus to, in effect, double the life thereof.

Yet another characteristic of importance resides in the fact that the downwardly facing channel forming the cover or frame 16 is so designed as to fully protect the user from water or dirt that may be discharged from the mop during the squeezing process; The water and dirt emerge, instead, from the left and right sides of the mop, and from the bottom of the mop, so as not to be squirted upwardly, rearwardly toward the user.

Yet another characteristic of importance, among the others mentioned herein, resides in the fact that the squeezing of the mop head is accomplished merely by throw of the lever 42 through substantially ninety degrees, with the arrangement translating the ninety degree swinging movement of the lever, which is easily effected by the user, into a strong squeezing pressure exerted by the pressure plate upon the compressible material of the mop head. It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is theinvention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles, and the means presently devised to carry out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor changes in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is: 1

A mop comprising: an elongated handle; an elongated frame fixedly secured to the handle and formed as a downwardly opening channel member having its length normal to that of the handle, said member .including a top wall generally in the form of the sector of a cylinder having a transversely downwardly convex undersurface and front and back walls extending downwardly from the opposite longitudinal edges of the top wall along lines radiating from the center about which said undersurface is curved; at least one guide pin connected be tween the front and back walls and curved about said center in downwardly spaced relation to the top wall; a water-absorbent, soft, compressible head embraced by the channel member and having a plurality of transverse bores through one of which the guide pin extends, the head being transversely curved correspondingly to said pin and to the undersurface of the top wall of the frame and having a top surface in face-to-face contact with said top wall, the head having a front and-a back surface, the back surface being in enggement with the back wall of the frame; a pressure plate bearing against the front surface of the head and slidably supported on the guide pin; an actuating pin connected to the pressure plate and extending through a second bore of the head, the actuating pin being curved about said center; and means on the handle connected with the actuating pin and shiftable longitudinally of the handle away from the frame, said means moving the pressure plate in an arcuate path about said center toward the back wall to compress the head in said arcuate path between the pressure plate and back wall, said means including a bracket connected to the 5 actuating pin, a yoke pivotally mounted upon the handle adjacent the frame, said yoke being of U-shape and having a bight portion disposed downwardly from the handle rearwardly of said back wall of the frame, said bight portion extending transversely of the handle and swinging in a downwardly arcuate path, the bracket being U-shaped to include legs and a bight part, the legs of the bracket being loosely pivotally connected to said bight portion of the yoke, and an elongated connecting rod extending longitudinally of and below the handle and having a pivotal connection to said bight portion of the yoke between the legs of the bracket, the actuating pin being engaged in the bight part of the bracket in abutting relation to the connecting rod, said connecting rod extending in position to be shifted longitudinally of the handle by a user, said bight part of the bracket extending in position to hold the actuating pin against movement relative to the bracket in one direction longitudinally of the handle, said connecting rod at the location at which the same is in abutting relation to the actuating pin engaging the actuating pin against movement longitudinally of the handle in an opposite direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,699,563 Duncan Jan. 18, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 986,772 France Apr. 4, 1951 1,000,046 France Oct. 10, 1951 1,025,185 France Jan. 21, 1953 61,019 France Sept. 29, 1954 187,267 Austria Oct. 25, 1956 

